A woman romantically acquainted with Proud Boys leader Enrique Tarrio has exercised her Fifth Amendment rights in response to prosecutor questioning over a document she allegedly provided Tarrio outlining tactical plans to occupy government buildings ahead of the January 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol, reported POLITICO on Tuesday.
"Erika Flores, a Florida-based cryptocurrency advocate, 'answered only brief biographical questions and then invoked her fifth amendment right not to testify repeatedly in response to more than 50 transcript pages worth of questions by the government' about the document titled '1776 Returns,' prosecutors revealed in a Monday night court filing," reported Kyle Cheney. "That document is now at the heart of the government’s seditious conspiracy charge against Tarrio and four other members of the Proud Boys, accused of masterminding the riot and breach of the Capitol that day."
This comes despite the fact that Flores actually did reveal some information when she had been interviewed by the House January 6 Select Committee, giving up fellow crypto activist and former Special Operations and State Department official Samuel Armes as the author of the document. Armes has denied this and accused Flores of "blame-shifting."
"1776 Returns" outlines a strategy over nine pages, based on war games scenarios, for seizing control of federal buildings, which it describes as "storm[ing] the Winter Palace" — a reference to the 1917 Russian Revolution.
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The Proud Boys are a self-described "Western Chauvinist" group with ties to white supremacy and a reputation for street brawls. Their members were active at the Capitol attack.
Tarrio and four other high-ranking Proud Boys have been indicted for seditious conspiracy. Similar charges were filed against leaders of the far-right paramilitary Oath Keepers organization for their January 6 activities, with leader Stewart Rhodes, his close associate Kelly Meggs, and four others being convicted.
